by Dennis Dalman
Home Sweet Home.
That’s how Dr. Timothy Binsfeld said he feels after returning recently to his home town, Sartell. After being gone for so long, Binsfeld was hired last summer as a physical therapist at the International Pain and Physical Medicine Center in Sartell. He is the only doctor in the greater St. Cloud area, so far, to be specially certified to do physical therapy with sufferers of Parkinson’s disease.
“It’s good to be back,” he said. “I love this community and couldn’t wait to get back. I’ve always loved Sartell because it’s such a friendly, kind and caring city. All my family members live within two hours of here.”
Born in 1990 as a twin at the St. Cloud Hospital, the son of Jeff and Connie Binsfeld, Binsfeld grew up in a home in the Via Riviera neighborhood just north of the city, a home where his parents still live. In high school, he loved sports and played football, was a member of track and did weight-lifting in the winter months. He graduated in 2007, then studied at Southwest Minnesota Sate University in Marshall, with a double major in biology and chemistry. He then attended the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse, to study physical therapy and earned a doctorate in that discipline last July. The next month, he began working at the International Pain and Physical Medicine center.
Medicine and helping others seems to run in the Binsfeld family. Father Jeff makes dentures and other specialized teeth at Thoele Dental Lab in Waite Park. Mother Connie works as a para for an elementary day program for children with special needs in the Sartell School District. Timothy’s twin sister, Becky, is a dental hygienist in Sauk Rapids.
Binsfeld and the center he works for specialize mainly in chronic neck and back pain. His philosophy of medicine is to empower patients to do as much as they can on their own, with teamwork the key in working together to find solutions to problems.
I’m kind of a coach that way,” he said. “I try to motivate.”
Currently, Binsfeld lives with his parents in Sartell and hopes to find a home soon in Sartell or at least in the greater St. Cloud area.
His hobbies are weight-lifting, exercising and outdoor activities, including hunting and fishing.